Has anyone ever wondered why on a time-line, time moves to the right not the left?

Question

I couldn't understand for the longest time why forward motion for time meant moving to the right. I think I know now but want to hear what you have to say.

Exsample:

Beginning-------------------------------...

Answer 1

Becuase going to the left is negative. Time is not negative. You cannot go back in time. Therefore it goes in the positive direction.

Answer 2

It's just a convention, dude.  It has simply become the standard way for illustrating progression. We illustrate things in left to right text, so we likewise represent linear progression left to right. To do otherwise would just be irritating to the reader.

Answer 3

I would speculate that it has to do with the left-right convention of Western writing.

Answer 4

because we read left to right

Answer 5

Convention- because we write that direction, too.

Some languages do write the other way...example Arabic, where we got the decimal system from (they invented the zero that made it possibe). If  we write a list of numbers 1...2...3...4.. they would write it 4...3...2..1..  BUT if we write a large number as 2345, they do also write 2345. From our point of view we are writing the number left to right. From theirs (and mathematically) they are writing it right to left, as the lowest (singles) digit is to the right, the tens digit next, the 100s digit next and so on.

confused?

just convention.

Answer 6

it follows the movement of the sun

Answer 7

in math anything on a line or graph that goes left means negative. in a time line it only goes to the right because there is no such thing as negative time becasue we cant reverse time.

EVEN though i wish we could!! =D

Answer 8

Left to right is just a convention.  We write left to right, but we don't have to.  Some languages have written right to left.  As soon as you want to put time on a spacial axis (for visualization), you must pick a direction for 'forward' time.  This then just becomes a way to visually conceptualize time.